


Sing Sweet Nightingale

by TheColorBlue



Category: Cinderella (Disney) - Fandom
Genre: Gen, on being free, on dreams
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-05
Updated: 2011-10-05
Packaged: 2017-10-24 08:18:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/261150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheColorBlue/pseuds/TheColorBlue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The reason that Cinderella never left--<br/>There were several reasons why Cinderella never left, despite the drudgery and abuse that she put up with.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sing Sweet Nightingale

The reason that Cinderella never left--

There were several reasons why Cinderella never left, despite the drudgery and abuse that she put up with.

Because this was her father's house, her home. The quaint little country chateau...though these days it was becoming more than a little dilapidated from neglect on her stepmother's part.

Because her friends were here. Yes, the animals were her friends, she wasn't ashamed of that. She was the one who took care of her father's old horse, of Bruno, of all the hens and of the mice. If she left, she knew her stepmother would sell the animals, and have the mice caught and killed.

Because she had no where else to go.

But now she had, and she could see it from her bedroom window as the hours passed, locked in her room. She could see the white palace on a hill, fringed all around by the brown rooftops of the town.

\--

Stepmother couldn't keep her locked up forever. After the embarrassment of the Duke's morning visit, Anastasia and Drizella would sulk, then complain they wanted lunch, they had laundry to get done, clothing to mend, where was Cinderella?

Cinderella Cinderella _Cinderella_.

Stepmother came up to Cinderella's tower room.

She stared hard at her stepdaughter, then said in her cold, soft way, "I don't know how you managed to get to the palace, or to dress yourself so beautifully, to fool everyone--but you have not fooled _me_ , Cinderella."

Cinderella did not answer, and Lady Tremaine came closer, bearing down on her.

"Do you honestly believe," Stepmother whispered, "that the prince could ever love you? He thinks you are some foreign princess--the whole kingdom does. But you are not. Just look at you. Drab little thing that you are--little better than a scullery maid, and that's all you'll ever be good for." Stepmother's mouth twisted into a sneer. "So when you've done sniveling up here, I suggest you return downstairs and begin your morning duties."

\--

Cinderella did not argue. She was very quiet as she went down the stairs and into the kitchen to prepare that day's lunch. But she did not stop in the kitchen, she went out into the yard, then around to the path that circled the main house, down to the entrance road and up to the manor gates.

She touched the iron gates for just a moment, before opening them.

Then she walked off the manor grounds, and down the country road towards town.

\--

There was a white palace on a hill, she could see it from her bedroom window.

And even though it was past midnight, she knew she had somewhere she could go. Not a dream.

Somewhere real.


End file.
